#Monuments of #Switzerland

The problem with #data is, how do you keep it all up to date. For the monuments of Switzerland much of the data is kept on the toolserver. It works just fine.

Wikidata has matured enough to include much if not all of that same data. Missing in the official functionality are the tools to make use of it. Yes, you can store information on the connected Wikipedia articles but that is not the same as using it to administer a project like Wiki loves Monuments.

Un-official functionality meanwhile does provide much of what is needed. This is a list of all the monuments known to Wikidata in Switzerland. I added 86 pictures to the Wikidata items using the WD-Fist functionality.

As more tools get connected, these tools are increasingly attractive to use for a project. One big advantage of Wikidata is that you do not need to have an article for every monument you know about.
Thanks,
     GerardM

#Wikidata - the building of the Nationalbank in #Bern

The building of the Nationalbank in Bern is a monument. It does not have a Wikipedia article and yet, it is known to Wikidata.. When you check out the external source, you find that the source is running on the Toolserver. This probably means that this tool needs to be migrated to labs in the near future.

The database is on the Toolserver probably because of Wiki loves monuments. When you look at the data, you find that among other things it refers to a list on the German Wikipedia. You will also find that much of the data can be included in Wikidata. When all the data is hosted on Wikidata, it is not even necessary to migrate the data to labs.

When monuments like this building have their data on Wikidata, it will make it easier to integrate Commons in Wikidata. As you may know, this is scheduled for the second half of 2014.
Thanks,
      GerardM

United we stand strong, divided we still are

This is a #map of Elburg, a municipality in the Netherlands. It shows its monuments and when available it will show a picture for them thanks to Wiki loves Monuments. There is a pop up for every individual monument and it shows a wealth of information.

According to the Wikipedia article, there are 293 monuments in Elburg alone. The information is rich; it includes descriptions, geo-locations, external sources and a link to Google Maps. This is a great choice because it allows you to see all the monuments while virtually travelling through this small town.

When this information becomes available in Wikidata, it becomes possible to find translations for many of the data items in use. The monuments in the Elburg can be found with a query like this one. The existing list article can be defined like this. For all the 293 items a new Wikidata has to be created and populated with the existing data.

This blog post indicates that it can be done. The problem is that it requires a retooling of Wikimedia loves Monuments. To the people who worked so hard to build the existing tooling the message is: it is the work you did that makes it possible to have quick results in Wikidata in the first place.
Thanks,
       GerardM

The #Wikimedia #Commons featured pictures

I have counted to ten .... waited some more, and more ... and am not happy with the Featured Pictures practices of Commons. They are only about technical considerations and an absolutely stunning picture, a spectacular picture good enough to win the Wiki loves Monuments 2012 world wide competition fails to qualify.

On one level, I do not need to care; it is for that in-crowd to play their game. On the other hand they expect us to cherish their best in the picture of the year. In a world that is not black and white, most of their pictures are nice. Most pictures however do not impress me as much as the winning picture of Wiki loves Monuments 2012.

#Dutch #government loves #WikiLovesMonuments

When a small country like the Netherlands runs the Wiki loves Monuments competition for three years in a row, you would think everything has been photographed. You would think that every monument has been described. Because of  the great cooperation with the governmenmental organisation for Cultural Heritage (RCE), it has been quite clear how many monuments there are; from the start there were lists compiled from its databases.

Obviously the RCE has its own photos of most of the monuments; they are used to do whatever is needed to maintain the necessary information. The RCE has been taking pictures for many years. Currently there are some 555.000 images in its collection. All of them are now available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 NL license. All of them will be uploaded to Commons. 

With all these images available on Commons, this collection is available to people from all over the world who want to learn about the Dutch cultural heritage and its monuments. As this is a cooperation with the RCE, it comes with references to the RCE database where much more information can be found.

Some images like the one to the right show exceptional moments like the three pictures showing the hoisting of the church tower of the church in Bodegraven in April 1973 ( 1 2 3)

Add to the over half a million pictures from the RCE the pictures of Wiki loves Monuments and there is an obvious challenge; how to find the pictures of the same object. The good news is that the RCE numbers were available on the list.. A Commons picture of the tower in Bodegraven standing tall can be found here.

Combining all the related information is relatively easy to do in a database.. Maybe, one day Wikidata will be the platform making all these connections for us.

The RCE has given us a great gift, it is for us to use it and make it available in a usable way.
Thanks,
        GerardM

Use Europeana's TimeMash for #WikiLovesMonuments

#Europeana has a rich repository of images of many, many monuments. They show what monuments looked like once upon a time.

Wiki loves monuments is a photo competition where people are take pictures of monuments what they look like at this day and age.

The TimeMash application adds a dimension to the pictures that can be taken; it helps photographers make pictures from the same angle. The combination is powerful; pictures taken in this way are more interesting.

It is possible to have both images on Commons and even used in the projects. The challenge is to register and link such pictures and to have a tool to switch between such images.
Thanks,
     GerardM

Wiki loves Art Nouveau

#Wikipedia documents in many languages the buildings that are of such a significance that they are officially recognised as "monuments". All these articles need illustrations and Wiki loves Monuments is the photo competition that rallied people from all over Europe to take pictures of the buildings and its details.

Once all this pictures were in, Europeana selected some to create its first user generated exhibition online called: Wiki loves Art Nouveau. The exhibitions shows of European Art Nouveau in four themes: exteriors, interiors, details and author's pick.

If you do not know Europeana yet, visit their website. They are the portal that brings more and more of the European cultural to the Internet. They are also instrumental in gently pushing European GLAM towards using free licenses.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#WCN11 - Wiki loves Monuments

At the WCN11 it was time for the jury to announce the winners of the Dutch Wiki loves Monuments challenge. This was the second time Wiki loves monuments hit the Netherlands and this time there were even more pictures taken.

Many pictures just showed the object, some were of technical excellence but the most remarkable included something extra, something special as well. These were the ones that impressed the jury most. The jury report in Dutch.

a picture with many details; the talking neighbours, the goat going into the pen, the laundry, the beautiful light ... the number one picture by Harm Joris ten Napel

Thanks,
      GerardM

#mwhack11; two concurrent events - #WikilovesMonuments

At the Berlin hackathon there was a big meeting working hard to get the organisation right for Wiki loves Monuments. There were people from all over Europe and from what I saw they were having a great time. They had their own hackers and having their own event at the same time and place proved to be a stroke of genius.

With all these people being together at the same time, you get to speak to many of them. I met Jane this way and we had a good time talking about several things including a retired photographer, Bob van der Lans.

Mr van der Lans took over his father's photography store in Hillegom in 1958 and took pictures for several local businesses for over 5 decades. He still takes pictures for the Keukenhof, a flower show in Lisse. Since retirement, he has given away parts of his archive, which included thousands of photo negatives on various subjects, such as all editions of "Sail Amsterdam", all versions of various flower shows and parades.

Bob van der Lans

In May 2011, he gave his personal archive of Dutch and European monuments to Wikimedia Netherlands after reading about Wiki Loves Monuments in his newspaper in 2010. He has acquired a digital camera and laptop and plans to continue photographing monuments. None of his former monument pictures have been previously published.

The challenge is to digitise these pictures and put them on Commons. Given that this is a true collection, with annotations on the back, it will be a lot of work...
Thanks,
      GerardM

#wikilovesmonuments and there are plenty of them

The 2011 is going places; last year half the monuments of the Netherlands had their pictures taken and this year cameras are to be aimed at the monuments of Europe. There is a beautiful new logo, the planning is already under way for some time.

September is the month when everything will be ready and the current planning can be found on Commons. Obviously you can take pictures already but for these pictures to be part of the photo competition, they have to be uploaded in September.

Monuments are not only to be found in the countries with chapters. The fact that lists with monuments in Belgium are compiled is quite exciting. Then again, many people visit Belgium for fun, history and Trappist so why not bring a camera?

In the Netherlands Wiki loves Monuments will end with a conference in November, there will be presentations, prizes and the opportunity to meet fellow Wikimedians. I hope and expect that similar fun will be had in most of Europe.
Thanks,
       GerardM

Wiki loves monuments can do with monumental efforts

#WLM is organised by #Wikimedia chapters. So what if there are no chapters. Does that mean that a country is not on our map of Europe?

When the question: "does your country have monuments" can be answered with a "yes",  we like to have pictures and articles about the architecture, the architects, the monuments of your country.

It is relevant to understand what organising a Wiki loves Monuments takes. The original project was only possible because volunteers of the Dutch chapter reached out to the Dutch national monuments organisation. The list they provided was analysed and published on the wiki with geo data and references to the Monuments databank and the existing pictures of buildings were matched with this list. Press releases were written, prizes were found and a committee of judges was formed and yes, there was a party.

All this proved to be a serious effort and several people worked really hard over many months to make this happen. When your country does not have a chapter and you think you can pull it off with fellow Wikimedians, your country may be added to the list. When monuments are not organised on a national scale, there may be a need for regional outreach. As a country is bigger more regional involvement is needed anyway.

The WLM competition is European in nature. The effort it will take to pull it off on this scale is Herculean. It is an effort that like Catalan castells reaches for the sky.
Thanks,
       GerardM

I stepped royally into it ....

When I blogged about Wikilovesmonuments.eu I was happy to inform about the plans for an European photo competition. I am sad that some countries are not able to participate and I expressed my hope that Italian regions will allow us to do our thing in their area.

The Spanish chapter is participating and, for a chapter newly formed this is really amazing. Organising an event like this does take a serious amount of effort.

Responses to my blog post show that not everybody is happy with European chapters taking an initiative.

This is not a Spanish bull but an Hereford

As I understand it, some Catalans feel excluded. They have their own chapter and apparently do not consider themselves part of Spain. While I can appreciate such sentiments to some extend, Catalonia is not the only region that may feel a bit separate. The Basque region is even better known for its independent sentiments.

Wikimedians are meant to work together. With sentiments a bit spirited, they can use their energy and try to outdo each other. What Wikipedia can represent the architecture of the Iberian peninsula best. Promoting the Catalan or Basque monuments will be easier because they speak Spanish as well.

The Spanish chapters and communities will have to work as a federation. From a marketing point of view people go on a holiday to Spain and end up enjoying its varied culture when they are lucky. When they are not, all they see is the beach and the bars. Then again, they do not need Wikipedia to decide where to go and what to do.

My message then and now is the same; enjoy Europe's cultural heritage and take part in the Wiki loves Monuments competition where you can.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Plan your #holidays with Wiki loves #Monuments in mind

When you are playing the tourist, it is nice to be on a mission, when you are not only moving about "because that is what you do" but  when your movements have a purpose. Wiki loves Monuments can give you such a purpose.

The Wikimedia chapters of Europe are working together in one big photo competition to document the architectural heritage of Europe. Some countries like Belgium do not take part because there is no Belgium chapter and others like Italy do not take part because their laws assume copyright of Italian monuments.

This Belgium problem can be solved by its Wikimedians.

Italy deserves a quite different response. Just do not go. Ignoring Italy as a travel destination because your pictures are not yours to license is quite appropriate. A solution may be found in cooperation with the regional authorities in Italy; when this allows us to ignore such silly dictates from Rome, you will find it amazing what the Italian country side has to offer.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#Italy loves its #monuments

When you go to Italy on a holiday, its monuments, its #culture and its #food are the star attractions. The tourists take their snapshots and share it with their envious friends who also want to see Napoli before they die.

When these friends prepare for their trip to one of the roots of the classic civilisations they seek out Wikipedia for information. Arguably it is in the macro economic interest of Italy to provide them with superior articles and magnificent illustrations.

It is therefore astonishing to learn that Italy cannot take part in Wikipedia loves Monuments because the state is said to have the copyright on all of Italy's monuments. Some will argue that we cannot have photos of Italian monuments on Commons. Others will argue that the swarms of tourists who descend on Italy are exempt from such Mafia practices. As monuments are monuments for a reason, it is reasonable to expect to find illustrations in images that are out of copyright.

It is likely that these illustrations may need as much restorations as the buildings that are still standing. This is something we can certainly do as Wikipedia loves Monuments.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#Wikipedia loves #Bangalore and #monuments

In Bangalore twenty eight Wikipedians went out on a photo walk. They visited the historical Basavanagudi area and a lot of pictures will be uploaded to Commons. According to the Wikipedia article there are many prominent landmarks and areas and as the photo shows, there must be many photos of Bangalore monuments.

The Wiki loves Monuments was a great success in the Netherlands; many monuments were photographed and a lot of meta data became available from the organisation that looks after monuments as well. Obviously India is huge and there must be many many more monuments then you will find in the Netherlands.

Think for a moment that a project like Wiki loves Monuments gets an Indian edition with a Dutch result. It would be awesome and, there would be so much more for the world can learn in Wikipedia about India and its cultures.
Thanks,
     GerardM